With the apparent slowdown in the leading housing markets of Toronto and Vancouver, the Quebec Federation of Real Estate Boards announced that Montreal is well on its way to experiencing its largest home price growth since 2010.

Montreal-area residential property valuations are on track to grow by 6 per cent in 2017, up from a January projection of just 1 per cent.

The median price for single-family homes in the city is expected to rise to $312,500, still a relative bargain as the figure is approximately one-third the levels in Toronto and Vancouver. Sales volume has also been forecast to increase by 4 per cent year-over-year, up to a seven-year high of 41,500 property transactions.

The Montreal market has so far been spared from the overheating that has led to the Ontario and B.C. governments imposing their own foreign buyers’ taxes. Desjardins Group chief executive officer Guy Cormier argued that Montreal has no need for such a levy as there is “no real-estate bubble forming” in the city at the moment.

Data from CMHC showed that the proportion of foreign home buyers in Montreal stood at 1.3 per cent by the end of 2016, a figure that CMHC officials said might hold for some time.

“We expect the number to remain close to 1.5 per cent in the short term,” CMHC principal of market analysis (Montreal) David L’Heureux said.

The city’s status might prove irresistible to those fleeing the Toronto and Vancouver markets, however.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Montreal becomes the new target for foreign capital investing in residential real estate,” according to Cynthia Holmes, professor of real estate management at Ryerson University in Toronto.

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